Men and property owners likelier to use fintech in Hong Kong, PolyU survey shows

The correlation exists in virtual bank services, online brokerage services, virtual insurance, and virtual assets, but more women adopt digital payments

The survey also finds adoption gaps in education and income, which the report’s authors call ‘ironic’, as fintech is aimed at ‘financial inclusion’

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Pedestrians on a footbridge in Hong Kong. A survey in the city found that men and property owners are more likely to use fintech services. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:00am, 26 Apr 2023Updated: 9:40am, 26 Apr 2023

More men and property owners use financial technology services in Hong Kong than women and non-property-owners, according to a survey conducted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and local fintech start-up Asklora.

The findings, released on Tuesday and covering more than 2,000 residents in the city, are consistent across four types of fintech products, including virtual bank services, online brokerage or “virtual wealth” services, virtual insurance, and virtual assets, PolyU’s Fintech Adoption Index showed.

Men are more likely to use these products, according to the survey, but more women adopt digital payments.

Visitors attend Hong Kong FinTech Week in October 2022. Photo: Sam Tsang

The correlation with property ownership is especially pronounced when it comes to virtual insurance, with 58 per cent of property owners who responded to the survey having used such services, compared with 25 per cent of non-owners.

The correlation is also strong among owners of virtual assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with 74 per cent of virtual asset owners and 81 per cent of NFT owners being property owners, compared with 49 per cent of digital payment users.

Hong Kong in 2021 declared its “Fintech 2025” strategy, which aims to encourage the “comprehensive” use of technology in the financial sector within four years.

However, the new survey found that respondents with lower education levels and poorer backgrounds are less likely to use fintech. More respondents aged between 30 and 49 use fintech than other age groups.